... All I can say is, I still call it. I called it at or before the end of the Alfheim Online saga (although I think the rumor started more on wishful thinking and probable statistics than on my puny influence). Don't lose hope, fans!! For those of us who didn't care about the show, brace yourselves for another wave of fandom.

I have to say its been a long time since I saw a anime that was this good.

I saw Accel World first, originality was off the charts but its always the sound tracks that hook and pull you into the story, without it you just get bored watching them dance around like most common anime. Accel World was lacking in that area, just a tad.

SAO sound track just blows it out of the water, you can easily watch the first 10 episodes, ep13.5 - 14 over and over.

I haven't read the books but its seems like a shame that they didn't have SAO take up all 24-25 episodes, so much story that could have been covered. The elf arc would have been perfect as a follow up with 2 more episodes for a 12 episode season as even that seemed rushed.

I'll look forward to the season 2, arcs 3/4. Considering its about guns, it'll be interesting how they keep the sword part which has been the core of the story realistic.

I haven't read the books but its seems like a shame that they didn't have SAO take up all 24-25 episodes, so much story that could have been covered. The elf arc would have been perfect as a follow up with 2 more episodes for a 12 episode season as even that seemed rushed.

I'll look forward to the season 2, arcs 3/4. Considering its about guns, it'll be interesting how they keep the sword part which has been the core of the story realistic.

Personally I think the Phantom Bullet arc is probably the weakest story arc in the light novel series.
So depending how it goes if it is released in anime form it could make or break the anime adaptations.
If it does badly though it would be a pity, because the arcs that start after Phantom bullet are much better, not better than the original arc but still really good.

You could have spent hundreds of well done episodes just on SAO. That's the only complaint, they took what could have been a ongoing story mode and over simpled it, you have a real hard time grasping that 2+ years have passed with only 14 episodes and so much level jumping. You can't grasp how much they've struggled.

I'll admit I didn't watch them air originally but from what I gather there was no break between ep1-25.

1 standard season is 24-25 episode, half a season is 12-13. Only when you start talking about more then 50 episodes or continuous anime like bleach/fairy tail, can you get into the gray zone of what's considered a season 1/2/... . Soul Eater was ~50 episodes, I would soundly call that 1 season.

If there are no breaks its still the same season, wrapping up a story then swiftly moving to the next isn't enough to call it a new season.

Thus this was clearly 1 season and they covered 2 arcs, arcs referring to different story's/goals.

I think the first arc was good was because it was the simplest plot possible. Beat the game or die.
Second wasn't as good cause it was for stupid reasons: save the girl in 3 days or she gets married to some prick, no judge would null a marriage because it happened while she was in a comatose state right? Oh look I made a new account based on a similar platform that predates the one I was just in, it doesn't matter that it had all its server data deleted and know one in 2 years could hack it, yet I somehow have all my stats and data .

If what you say is true in that the next arc is weak, and I hear the 4th is like accel world. I could see them going back to the original SAO game which they conveniently restored and messing in that for a while.

The black text on the side (under the big blue text) basically says: "Even though the anime is over, SAO won't stop! A new comic series is starting!"

And it's called Sword Art Online, Girls Ops.

I guess I should also translate the other parts...

The smaller black font near the bottom talks about even after the anime has finished, the SAO heroines (Lizbeth, Silica and Leafa) are still popular. But, they rarely gets any time in the main story. So due to demand by the girls, a new series is starting. With SAO School (?? the kanji here is hard to read, except the "School" part) and ALO as a setting, the girl's adventures are about to begin.